Childhood Obesity

NUTR 351

[kylieedwards1]

Childhood obesity more expensive than a year of college

New research conducted by Duke University looks at the lifetime price tag on childhood obesity; spoiler alert: the per-person cost for medical care is more than a year of college. Over a lifetime, an obese child who grows into an obese adult will spend around $19,000 more in medical care than a normal weight child who maintains normal weight as an adult. Even if a normal weight child grew up and gained excess weight as an adult, their medical costs would rise, but obese children still had $12,900 more in lifetime costs. Duke University presented their numbers in their findings. The numbers are as followed: 1 in 5 American children between the ages of 6 and 19 are obese. The average cost of one year of college at a public four-year institution, around ($16,930), Duke researchers point out that the $19,000 saved in preventing one case of childhood obesity could fund at least a year of the child's college education. Duke researchers note $9.4 billion is 62 times the cost of one federal obesity prevention program. In the 2012-13 school year, the USDA spent $150 million on the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which allowed schools to serve fresh produce snacks two or more days a week. Duke found some very alarming facts about childhood obesity. To stop this epidemic from spreading action needs to take place. Education and knowledge is the first step to help stop childhood obesity. 

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Childhood-obesity-more-expensive-than-a-year-of-5405293.php#photo-6162700

[nutritionnut201]

The International Journal of Obesity published a very interesting study examining the coexistence of obesity, hunger, and limited food group consumption among Mexican-American children. Anthropometric data was collected among children living at the border of Baja California (Mexico) and...

[kylieedwards1]

That is such a high number for children at risk of hunger. It is really sad to see that. You said that high density foods are a common source of caloric intake and may cause the overconsumption of foods. Did your article state which foods are over-consumed or which foods should be less consumed? Thanks for the information! Good post!

[kylieedwards1]

Preventing Childhood Obesity: How To Help Kids Shed Weight By Changing Home Routines

A team of researchers in the United States and Canada have developed an approach to help low-income children lose weight by reducing television viewing time, increasing sleep time, and encouraging families to eat together at consistent times. This is the first home based intervention that has attempted to reduce obesity rates by changing household behavior, instead of focusing on diet or exercise. A holistic lifestyle change might be a better way to approach childhood obesity rather then implementing diet and exercise. Ongoing research has suggested that four household routines are associated with healthy weight for children: getting regular and adequate sleep; eating meals together as a family; limiting television viewing; and not having a television in the child's room. A 2010 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that preschool aged children in households with these four routines had a rate of obesity 40 percent lower than that of children whose homes had none of these routines. A study by the Harvard Medical School enrolled 121 families with overweight children, whose homes had TVs in the room where the children slept. Among them, 59 families were assigned to a control group and  62 other families who received in-home counseling about these healthy habits. Children in the intervention group increased their sleep by a half hour per day, reduced their television viewing by one hour per day, and decreased their body mass index by 20 percent. Meanwhile, children in the control group saw a small decrease in sleep and a 20 percent increase in BMI. It is possible that household routines are most effective in promoting children's healthy weight when combined with a warm and responsive style of parent child interaction. I believe that starting with an in home routine will help childhood obesity rates and it helps sets good routines for children. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/preventing-childhood-obesity_n_3896252.html

[kylieedwards1]

Video: Experts Saying Parents Are Underestimating the Weight of Their Children

Many obese and overweight children do not see themselves that way, which can then make achieving a healthy lifestyle almost impossible. If a child doesn't know they are obese or overweight, how will their parents know? A recent study was conducted and 25% of parents underestimated their child's weight; while 27% of children underestimated their own weight. Parents stated that they notice their child seems "bigger" but they believe that their child has a glandular problem or they will outgrow their obesity. Majority of the time, that is highly unlikely to occur. Addresses a child's weight that is dealing with being either obese or overweight is more affective when done at a younger age. Interventions for appropriate weight loss should target children directly because one of the major driving forces to lose weight comes from the child's perception of their weight. Another effort to prevent childhood obesity should incorporate education for both the child and their parent regarding the proper identification and interpretation of actual body weight. I strongly encourage children and their parents to seek out education on obesity and overweight values for their child, given their age and weight. Without proper education and knowledge, there is going to be a continuation of obese and overweight children in the United States. Already there is a 30% increase of obese and overweight children in the United States and that statistic is continuing to grow.

[nutritionnut201]

There is little published data that provides insights and information to the associations and correlations between household and community characteristics and food insecurity. There are even fewer published facts examining these ideas among the hard-to-reach Mexican-origin families who reside in...

[kylieedwards1]

Good job on your post and what an interesting article. It came to no surprise that households with children were at the most severe level of household food insecurity. It is very alarming the high rates of food insecurity within this population. I would agree that with federal and community food and nutrition assistance programs participation, the severity of food insecurity within Mexico-origin households would decrease. 

[kylieedwards1]

Parents in Survey Take Responsibility for Childhood Obesity

An online survey conducted by Yale during the years of 2009, 2010, and 2011 reported parents agreeing, 60%, that their children’s epidemic of obesity rests with the parents. Data was gathered from 2,454 parents of children aged 2 to 17 with an average income of $59,000, who had some college education. Parents reported the top three obstacles on ensuring healthy eating habits: food expense, easy access, and media advertisement. When asked what food their children had been advertised the most by media, fast food ranked top two all three years and soda followed close behind in third place. In this report and others, the Rudd Center of Food Policy & Obesity officials have said that the food industry could do more to ensure healthful diets for kids. According to data collected from The Rudd report, child targeted cereals have 57% more sugar and 52% less fiber than cereals marketed to adults. Parents were asked what they would like to see to help eliminate the childhood obesity epidemic and more than 72% of parents supported stronger school lunch standards, stronger standards for all food sold at school and healthful food in school vending machines. Fifty-seven percent reported that no media advertising to children under 8. Overall, parents need to start setting a better example for their children by eating healthy and limiting the amount of time children spend in front of a television. 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/01/news/la-heb-parents-in-survey-take-responsibility-for-childhood-obesity-20121031

[ejhk1-deactivated20150424]

Starvation is not meeting the daily energy requirements needed for the systems in the body to function properly. People in underdeveloped countries can be more prone to starvation due to certain factors. These factors are mainly due to the environment the people may live in. For instance many...

[kylieedwards1]

Interesting topic! It is astonishing to know how prevalent starvation is within our world today and how many individuals are affected by this crisis. Implementing more anti-hunger programs would greatly benefit the countries to which their populations are undernourished. 

[kylieedwards1]

Antibiotic Exposure Associated to Childhood Obesity

A new study was published in JAMA Pediatrics that found the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in children under 2 years old is associated with the increased risk of obesity in early childhood. Not only is obesity associated with unhealthy behavior, but also can be genetic. By the age of 24 months, 10% of US children are obese. Researchers are now looking into another factor, which may cause early onset of childhood obesity. From the moment we are born, the colonization of our intestines by a variety of bacteria begins. Recent evidence has suggested that different intestinal bacteria may differently affect the growth of the host. Researchers have found that the antibiotic exposure influences the diversity composition of the gut-dwelling microbes. A study was conducted during the span of 2001-2013, which analyzed 64,580 children who had annual visits to the doctors around ages 0-23 months, as well as one or more visits at age 24-58 months. Results were as followed; of the 64,580 children, 69% of them had received antibiotics before the age of 24 months, an average of 2.3 antibiotics per child. The study concluded that there was an increased risk of childhood obesity among the children that received antibiotics on four or more occasions. I believe that this study is definitely something parents and/or guardians should read. There was a lot of data collected and gives quite a bit of knowledge on early antibiotic exposure to children and how this leads to childhood obesity. 

  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283184.php

[elizabethnutr351-deactivated201]

When asking a few of my friends some of the reasons why they choose to eat vegetarian, or vegan I got a variety of answers. For some it was for health reasons, some simply just don’t like meat, and for others they felt like it was better for the environment and their health. I happen to know a lot...

[kylieedwards1]

I really enjoyed reading this article and seeing different views as to why people may choose the vegetarian diet. I tried the vegetarian diet once but I still went back to eating meat. I do agree with Bittman that more people are going vegetarian occasionally, I am a prime example of this.

[kylieedwards1]

Supersize My Child Please

1/3 of our children in the US are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is a serious epidemic and children younger and younger are developing more medical problems i.e. diabetes, hypertension, and hernia. Low-income communities of color have the highest rates of childhood obesity. African-Americans 35%, Latinos 40% and whites 29%. 1 in every 2 African-American/Latino girls will have diabetes during their lifetime. Small changes can make big differences. Keeping a food journal and writing down the foods you eat during the day is a proven method to promote weight loss and can help you understand your eating habits and target problem areas you may have. During the last 20 years, 23% of purchased groceries goes towards processed packaged foods which have stripped away the nutrients and fiber. With the help of parents, modeling good food behavior and exercise, they will encourage children to do the same. Along with parents modeling good behavior, there are Healthy Living classes that work with the whole family to help change their current lifestyle. Doing classes as a family brings family closer together and doesn’t single a child out on their current struggle. Overweight children become overweight adults, without change and prevention this epidemic is going to continue to blossom.

[kylieedwards1]

Targeting Children Younger and Younger

A new study was conducted which involved 7,738 children from a nationally representative sample, tracking their height and weight for seven times from kindergarten to eighth grade. Out of the 7,738 children who entered kindergarten, 12.4 percent were obese and by eighth grade, 20.8 percent were obese and 17 percent were overweight. Half of the obese kindergartners were obese when they were in eighth grade, and nearly three-quarters of the very obese kindergartners were obese in eighth grade. The risk that fat kindergartners would be obese in eighth grade was four to five times that of their thinner classmates, the study found. Race, ethnicity and family income mattered in younger children, but by the time the overweight children were 5 years old, those factors no longer affected their risk of being fat in later years. The findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine, and the results did not explain why the effect occurs. Researchers believe there were a combination of genetic predispositions to being heavy and the environment, which encourages overeating to those, prone to it. There are effective programs for young children which involve time and effort but the parents must pay out of pocket, about $1,500 to $3,000 for an intervention that usually only last a year. Family doctors may offer advice, but it is usually ineffective. “The main message is that obesity is established very early in life, and that it basically tracks through adolescence to adulthood,” said Ruth Loos, a professor of preventive medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/science/obesity-takes-hold-early-in-life-study-finds.html?_r=0